Mattress, cushion, &amp;c.



N 737,916. PATBNTED SEPT. 14-1903..-

' q. A; FISHER.

MATTRESS, cnsmon, 6w. APPLICATION FILED JUNE '7, 1901.

.no MODEL. 21 sinus-sum 1 No. 737,916. I PATENTED SEPT. 1,1903.

' c. A. FISHER.

r- MATTRESS, cusmon, am

7 APPLICATION IILBD JUNE T", 1801.

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V UNlTED STATES Patented Septemberl, 1903.

CHARLES A. FISHER, OF CHICAGO, lLLINOIS.

MATTRESS, CUSHION, 80.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 737,916, dated September 1, 1903.

Application filed June '7, 1901. Serial No. 63,578. (No model.)

To all whom it ntcty concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES A. FISHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mattresses, Cushions, and the Like, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in mattresses, cushions, and other articles which are filled with elastic, resilient, or other filling which because of its resiliency must be confined by tufting or other similar means; and my invention especially relates to improvements in mattresses which are filled with layers of fiber, such as cotton-batting, interlacing hair, &c.

The object of my invention is to provide a mattress, cushion, or the like which may be readily made with any desired exact outlines, which shall dispense with the degree of skill required in making mattresses in the ordinary way, and which shall present perfectly smooth surfaces for the body to rest on.

These and such other objects as may hereinafter appear are attained by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 indicates a mass of resilient material readyjor insertion in a mattress-tick. Fig. 2 indicates a section of a tick for receiving the material shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a tick with the filling inserted therein,

the dotted lines indicating certain steps in the manufacture of such a mattress in the ordinary manner. Fig. 4. is a plan view of a completed mattress as usually made. Fig. 5 shows the filling material of Fig. 1 with sheets of cloth laid thereon and thereunder in carrying out one of the steps of my imsert in a tick A of a given size a mass of resilient material B, which when unconfined is several times as thick as the completed mat tress. When this material is inserted in the tick, it is confined to the thickness of the tick only at the immediate ends and sides of the tick. The result is that the material expands most 'freely at the center of the tick, producing somewhat the effect shown in full lines in Fig. 3. In the usual way of making mattresses the workman now proceeds to further confine the inclosed materialjoy tufting it at the center of the mattress,as shown by dotted lines min Fig. 3.. The tick is then again tufted at points intermediate the middle and the ends, as shown in dotted lines 1) in Fig.3, and so on until the entire mass of the filling has been confined substantially'to the desired thickness of the completed mattress. As this tufting is all done through the outside covering or ticking of the mattress and is of course exposed to view, it is necessary, to make a properly attractive and salable article, as well as to obtain substantial uniformity of thickness throughout the tick, that these points of tufting shall be carefully spaced apart at equal distance in all directions. This, therefore,'is one reason why this tufting calls for a considerable degree of skill. If, however, the tick before being filled is made of the exact size desired for the finished mattress, the gathering in of the ticking in these tufts necessarily results in pulling or drawing the ticking from the ends and sides of the mattress toward the center, with the result that the sides andends of the completed mattress as ordinarily made curve inwardly from the corners, substantially as shown in Fig. 4. Such a mattress cannot accurately fill the bedstead for which it is intended. If, on the other hand, the tick is so cut as to allow for this contraction in a new mattress, then as the mattress is flattened in use it will bulge outwardly at the sides and corners. It is also a matter of common knowledge that mattresses so made are finished with tufted surfaces, which can be made approximately smooth only by the use of supplemental covers, pads, or the like. I

In my improved process of making mattresses I take the mass of filling material 13-- such, for instance, aslayers of so-called elastie felt-and lay under and over such mass or pile of material a sheet of suitable fabric, such as cotton cloth, each such sheet being of substantially the size of the upper and lower surfaces of the completed mattress. By any suitable means I then compress the material B between these sheets of cloth 0, and then with a suitable power sewing-machine I sew the layers of material 13' together between the sheets of cloth 0 by transverse lines of stitching a. As this stitching is completely covered in the completed mattress, there is no necessity for any particular accuracy or skill in running such stitches or in spacing the lines of stitching apart. When this stitch ing has been completed, the mass of filling material is confined by the stitches and between the sheets of cloth 0 to a thickness somewhat less than is desired for the completed mattress. I now lay upon the opposite faces of the stitched filling a layer D of suitable fabric, such as elastic felt or the like, each such layer being substantially the same in length and breadth as is desired for the finished mattress. This completes the filling for my improved mattress, as shown in Fig. 7. I now insert the stitched filling, with the superposed layers D, into the ticking or cover it with a ticking in any other convenient manner and then secure the ticking and the filling to each other by lines of stiching E around the ticking and near the edges thereof. This stitching may be most effectively done by passing it diagonally through the ticking and filling on sides parallel with the edges of the mattress. and a short distance back therefrom, such stitching passing diagonally from the upper and lower surfaces of the mattress through the ticking and filling and out again through the sides of the mattress, as best shown in Figs. 8 and -9. It will be observed that a mattress so judgment it is much better to complete the mattress by sewing the ticking to the filling, and, on the other hand, the finishing layers D might be sewed directly into the ticking and not ihesewed to the filling B. Such modifications do not constitute a departure from the spirit of my invention, but are contemplated thereby.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A mattress or cushion comprising a layer of resilient filling material, fabric arranged on the opposite faces of said resilient layer, said resilientlayer and said fabric being quilted together by stitches which confine such resilient material to the required thickness,layers of filling arranged on the opposite faces of the quilted layer, and stitches securing said last-named layers to the quilted layer of filling and fabric, substantially as described.

2. A mattress or cushion comprising a ticking, a centrally-arranged filling, layers of filling arranged above and below the said centrally-arranged filling, sheets of fabric arranged between each of the said layers of filling and having their edges arranged adjacent the upper and lower edges respectively of the ticking, and stitches passing through the upper and lower sides of the said ticking, layers" of filling, intermediate layers of fabric and sides of the ticking at an angle thereto, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. A mattress comprisingathick, resilient layer of cotton-batting arranged between sheets of fabric, said sheets of fabric and said cotton-batting being quilted together by stitches which confine said layer of cotton-batting to the required thickness, a thin layer of cotton-batting arranged upon the upper and lower faces of said quilted layer, and sewed directly thereto, substantially as described.

CHARLES A. FISHER.

Witnesses:

F. H. DRURY, M. E. SHIELDS. 

